Steam will stop selling physical gift cards later this year due to scammers

In recent years we have seen various platform holders moving away from physical retailers, be it through a reduced overall presence, fewer unit allotments or even the discontinuing of certain physical subscription cards. Joining in on the latter, Valve has now announced that physical Steam Gift Cards will soon be going away, citing scammers as the primary reason.

Taking to their Steam support page to make the announcement, Valve have officially confirmed that they will no longer be producing any physical Steam gift cards, stating:

“We introduced Steam Gift Cards to retail stores back in 2012, and added the digital program in 2017. Unfortunately, scammers use gift cards from major brands like Steam to take advantage of all people all over the world.”

They continued, “As we have continued to put more and more restrictions in place, scammers have adapted. They continue to have an impact on Steam customers and other unsuspecting individuals. So we've made the difficult decision to end the Steam Gift Card program at retail stores.”

According to Valve, they have already stopped supplying new physical cards to retailers, and so whatever is left in stock is what’s left. The platform holder expects “all retailers to be out of stock by the end of 2026.”

Of course, Steam has always been a digital-first company, and so their presence at retail is more subdued when compared to other console manufacturers. Still, this announcement comes as an unfortunate surprise.

In a bit of a silver lining, Valve plans to make purchasing digital gift cards “an even better experience” – though we will have to wait for further details on what this entails.

KitGuru says: What do you think of the announcement? Do you still buy gift cards at physical retailers? Will other platforms follow suit? Let us know your thoughts down below.

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